Therapeutic Represents the First Product to Be Created Using the Company’s Cytotronic™ Platform to Expand and Enhance the Therapeutic Properties of Stem Cells
LOS ANGELES, CA– Oct 27, 2015 – Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: ENDV), an innovative biotechnology company developing bioelectronics-based products and therapies for regenerative medicine, announced that it has filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on a perivascular cell mixture created using its proprietary Cytotronics™ Platform that would allow for the wide spread use of cord blood in the treatment of malignant and non-malignant hematological disorders.
Despite the clinical success of bone marrow transplants, the full clinical impact of blood-forming stem cells has yet to be realized. This is largely due to a shortage of clinically available stem cells — approximately 50% of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation candidates cannot find a matched donor.
Although the use of cord blood as an alternative source of blood-forming stem cells for patients without a matched bone marrow donor has gathered widespread attention, methods for the expansion of these stem cells in sufficient quantities for transplants into adult patients currently do not exist.
The prospect of increasing the availability and safety of cord blood transplants has attracted the attention of large pharmaceutical companies, such as Swiss drug maker Novartis, which recently announced another $15 million investment in Israeli stem cell company, Gamida Cell.
Endonovo Therapeutics has announced that it has created a method for the expansion and enhancement of the biological properties of blood-forming stem cells and the creation of a perivascular cell mixture containing blood-forming and immuno-modulatory stem cells for the treatment of blood-related disorders.
Specifics of The Patent Application:
The perivascular cell mixture (the “Cell Mixture”) is created using the Company’s Cytotronics™ platform and the co-culture of immunologically privileged and modulatory stem cells from a portion of the human umbilical cord along with adipose stem cells and a mixture of cord blood cells to create an off-the-shelf therapeutic product that can be stored indefinitely in a low temperature freezer and used to treat blood-related disorders.
Researchers had previously identified endothelial and perivascular cells, which line blood vessels, as the cells that functionally support blood-forming stem cells in the body. Endonovo’s use of a perivascular co-culture in a three-dimensional bioreactor allows for the maintenance and expansion of blood-forming stem cells in an environment that more closely resembles the way that they renew inside of the body.
Endonovo Therapeutics had previously announced a large-scale method of expanding cord blood using a co-culture with perivascular cells in a three-dimensional bioreactor. The Company had also previously announced the launch of its Cytotronics™ Platform, which uses its Time-Varying Electromagnetic Field (TVEMF) technology to expand and create optimized stem cells that show increased proliferation and the increased expression of several key genes that influence their “stemness,” homing and engraftment potential.
Endonovo Therapeutics has combined the two technologies to create a large-scale method of expanding and optimizing the biological properties of blood-forming stem cells prior to their transplantation and for the production of an off-the-shelf therapeutic product that can be stored indefinitely in a low temperature freezer without requiring cryopreservation.
“Current methods of expanding blood-forming stem cells outside of the body mainly expand short-term progenitors at the expense of the long-term self-renewing stem cells. Therefore, clinicians need to administer a second un-manipulated cord blood unit in addition to the expanded unit in adult patients in order to provide long-term hematopoiesis,” commented Endonovo Chief Scientist, Dr. Donnie Rudd. “Our off-the-shelf therapeutic is created using perivascular cells and a bioreactor that supports and mimics the way that blood-forming stem cells reside and renew inside of the body.”
“By combining the two technologies, we are addressing the problem from two sides,” stated Endonovo CEO, Alan Collier. “We are expanding the number of blood-forming stem cells and also enhancing the biological properties of these stem cells to create enhanced cell therapies.”
“Our competitors are primarily using genetic modification and/or pharmacological modulation to expand and/or enhance the therapeutic properties of stem cells, while we are simply using physical energy and a simulated stem cell environment, which we believe will result in safer and more effective therapies,” concluded Mr. Collier.
About Endonovo Therapeutics
Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company developing bioelectronic devices and therapies for regenerative medicine. Endonovo’s Immunotronics™ platform is a non-invasive, non-implantable bioelectronic device for treating/preventing vital organ failure through the reduction of inflammation, cell death and the promotion of regeneration. Endonovo’s Cytotronics™ platform provides for a method of expanding and manipulating cells using simulated microgravity and Time-Varying Electromagnetic Fields (TVEMF) for tissue engineering and cell therapies. The Company’s initial concentration is on the treatment of acute and chronic inflammatory conditions of the liver using its proprietary Immunotronics™ platform.
To learn more about the market for cord blood and tissue derived therapeutics, view the “Global Cord Blood & Tissue Banking Industry Report – Market Size, Segmentation, & Forecasts, 2024.”
